By Tom Parkin
January 9th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Support from Elon Musk and Jordan Peterson, a former tenured professor at the University of Toronto, might be a valuable signal to U.S. Republicans, but it’s a big backfire among Canadians
Poilievre and Peterson in conversation. They did a webcast that was two hours in length.
The Poilievre strategists thought a discussion with celebrity identitarian Jordan Peterson would let Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre reach Canadians directly, unchecked by pesky reporters and their pesky journalistic standards.
It did. And it was a big mistake.
Jordon Peterson: Now lives in the United States.
Peterson provided no check on Poilievre’s claim that “socialist programs” like healthcare, dental care and pharmacare subsidize the rich.
Peterson let pass unchecked Poilievre’s claim that hate crime is caused by “wokeism” and racism didn’t exist in Canada before wokeism recently invented or imported it.
Peterson didn’t push back or ask for elaboration on any of Poilievre’s weird claims. Viewers were left to accept them (or not) based on trust, if not in Poilievre then in Peterson. And that is exactly the problem.
Peterson won’t fix Poilievre’s low score with young women voters
Maybe Poilievre doesn’t care that he does so poorly with young women voters. An Angus Reid poll released last week showed Jagmeet Singh’s NDP at 48 per cent among women aged 18 to 34, well above Poilievre’s Conservatives at 27.
But that demographic dynamic isn’t surprising for a politician who wants to be associated with Jordan Peterson, whose foul mouth and plague of bad advice to young men runs in anti-women directions. With many young women voters, levels of trust in Jordan Peterson is so low it’s anti-trust.
So if young women voters are concerned Conservatives will cut healthcare, childcare, dental programs and others, watching Peterson nod while Poilievre calls them subsidies to the rich won’t allay them.
If young women suspect Conservatives won’t fight discrimination and hate crime, seeing Peterson endorse Poilievre’s strange logic on the blame for racism will only confirm them.
Peterson scores low trust among Canadians
And mistrust of Peterson isn’t confined to young women. Among those who know him, a big majority of Canadians surveyed have low trust in Peterson’s views on politics, according to a survey by the Canadian Digital Media Research Network.
Their November 2024 poll showed just 18 per cent had high trust in Peterson’s Canadian political opinions while 40 per cent reported low trust. Others couldn’t say.
In contrast, 65 per cent held high trust in Barack Obama’s opinions on Canadian politics. Even entertainers Celine Dion and Ryan Reynolds, with high trust among 41 and 40 per cent respectively, were twice as widely trusted as Peterson.
Elon Musk: spends more time with Donald Trump than he does with his own corporate interests.
75% have low trust in U.S. billionaire Elon Musk
Peterson may be the wrong Poilievre pitch-man to Canadians, but he did catch the eye of U.S. billionaire Elon Musk.
Amid Musk’s megalomaniacal frenzy last week — endorsing the far-right German AfD, attacking the U.K. Labour Party, calling for the release of racist thug Tommy Robinson — Musk did find a moment to endorse Poilievre’s chat with Peterson and push it out on Twitter.
Conservative strategists probably thought that was a win, too.
Klu Klux Klan: A dangerous organization that has become more active in the United States the past few years.
But a massive 75 per cent of Canadians have low trust in Musk’s opinions, according to the CDMRN survey, unsurprising given he is one of the world’s largest purveyors of disinformation.
Support from Musk and Peterson is about as helpful as the endorsement of the KKK; yet Poilievre strategists thought it was a win. Maybe it was a win it it was intended to signal to U.S. Republicans that Poilievre is their guy.
But it’s hard to see how that’s worth being identified with two such malevolent and broad-line disliked characters as Jordan Peterson and Elon Musk.
Comparison with KKK a bit much .
I had to laugh when I read this on golf course here in southern California. Clearly the left’s heads are exploding with this interview. Last time I checked there were over 40 million views. There is also extended content if you have a Daily Wire+ subscription, its a great discussion regarding strategy with the US. You can get the subscription at half price and your receive a free “Leftist Tears” insulated coffee tumbler . Its very high quality and quite excellent value.
Parkin is using a common literary “slight of hand” by the left to compare these three gentlemen to the KKK. A genius who revolutionized free speech, low orbiting satellites, and land rockets upright and reuse them. Canada’s most well known intellectual (Parkin neglected to mention Peterson was also a Harvard prof), and one of our brightest politicians and likely next PM.
So why stop with KKK, use the Nazi comparison, maybe Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong or Genghus Khan?
I’m looking forward to next week’s scare tactic on abortion.
So, who exactly is Tom Parkins? I believe that readers should be informed when any ‘opinion piece’ is being brought to their attention. In short, Mr. Parkins is a Lobbyist, a trade unionist (OPSEU, UFCW, Amalgamated Transit Union), a former advisor to the Minister of Labour during the Ontario Rae Administration and a past Executive member of the Sask. NDP.
None of this disqualifies him for having an opinion on either Peterson or Poilievre. But his perspective can hardly be considered neutral or objective.
The following is his Linkedin profile:
Principal
Impact Strategies – CanadaImpact Strategies – Canada
Mar 2022 – Present · 2 yrs 11 mosMar 2022 to Present · 2 yrs 11 mos
Toronto, Ontario, CanadaToronto, Ontario, Canada
Earning media impact for clients who want their story heard
Workers Health & Safety Centre
19 yrs 7 mos19 yrs 7 mos
Managing Director
Mar 2010 – Mar 2022 · 12 yrs 1 moMar 2010 to Mar 2022 · 12 yrs 1 mo
Toronto
Managing Director for Ontario’s high quality health and safety training organization.
Director, Field Services
Sep 2002 – Mar 2010 · 7 yrs 7 mos
Manage team of representatives responsible for promoting, contracting and co-ordinating health and safety training to companies and unions.
Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO) logo
Researcher
Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO)
2000 – 2002 · 2 yrs2000 to 2002 · 2 yrs
Represention to the Walkerton Inquiry and for workers in contract arbitrations.
Manager, Life Long Learning
Labour Education Centre
1999 – 2000 · 1 yr
Managed team assisting workplaces in development of in-house learning programs and access to programs for literacy, language and high school completion.
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada)United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW Canada)
1997 – 1999 · 2 yrs1
Supporting joint labour-management efforts to increase access to skills training in the food producing sector of Canada’s economy.
Research Director
Amalgamated Transit Union – Canadian CouncilAmalgamated Transit Union – Canadian Council
1995 – 1997 · 2 yrs
Developed strategy, resources, research and tactics to support campaigns to prevent urban transit privatization and intercity bus deregulation.
Special Assistant to the Minister
Ontario Ministry of LabourOntario Ministry of Labour
Jun 1994 – Jun 1995 · 1 yr 1 mo
TorontoToronto
Stakeholder relations.
Saskatchewan New Democratic Party
Director of Organization
It would have been most useful if you had provided a link to the interview or the text of the entire interview so that people could decide for themselves. I am soul weary of eating the pre-digested fare of political pundits.
YouTube, It’s a good interview, but make up your own mind.
Absolutely agree – I have watched and have indeed come to my own conclusion. Mine was more of a general comment on the utility/ethics of opinion pieces without access to source material.
I wonder if Parkin would care to share on what basis and as to why he thinks and then states, “Conservative strategists probably thought that was a win too”. Last time I looked the party is focussed on putting Canada back on track just like Jean Chretien ( former great Liberal PM so as to not confuse anyone) did. Ray Rivers at least bases his articles on known fact versus hyperbole and sharing the inner musings of his leftist mind.
This interview should tell us everything we need to know about Poilievre..
Poor judgment, bombastic, Trump copycat…not a real Conservative! and does not seem to be a real Canadian either!